How to Survive in a Good Small Guild
Episode 7
“…Very well.”
As if he had finally made up his mind, the Crown Prince stood up and came over to me.
“Tell me your name and the contents of your oath.”
He placed his hand on top of my head, and a golden energy flowed from his hand.
“I, Audret Lavendel, swear that I oppose the Temple.
“I, Audret Lavendel, swear that I want to destroy the Temple.
“I, Audret Lavendel, swear that I will do my utmost to cooperate with His Highness the Crown Prince standing before me for this purpose.”
“What will you stake on this oath?”
“I swear on my life.”
“……!”
He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and answered.
“I accept your oath.”
The light finally faded.
This meant that my oath was genuine.
If I had made a false oath, I would have lost my life.
The Crown Prince looked at me with an astonished expression.
“You really intend to cooperate with me.”
“Yes, Your Highness.
“I’ll bring you all the information you need to destroy the Temple.”
“…Then it’s a deal.”
I instinctively smiled.
With this, I had officially become the Crown Prince’s person.
It wasn’t as if I had originally wanted to get involved in the original story.
But I simply couldn’t stand what the Temple was doing.
How dare they make me work overnight?
Those bastards deserved to be crushed by labor laws!
“Then I’ll contact you again soon.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
After responding respectfully to the Crown Prince, I thought about what I should do next.
Hmm.
Then, of course…
Should I start by taking control of this guild?
“All right! Let’s work with plenty of energy today!”
The manager shouted enthusiastically as he arrived at work.
“Assistant Manager Audret! Why do you look so depressed? Come on, come on! Cheer up!”
Let him laugh as much as he wanted.
Today would probably be his last day coming to work.
I stared at the pile of things covering the manager’s desk.
As expected of the enthusiastic villain, his desk was always buried under a mountain of stuff.
Stacks of sticky notes, several notebooks, cigarettes…
And even a mirror so he could check whether the Guild Master was approaching.
He certainly hadn’t wasted his time building up seniority at this X-company guild.
But there was something else I had been paying attention to over the past few days.
<From a Penniless Office Worker to a 3-Billion-Peso Millionaire?!>
<Don’t Waste Even Ten Minutes – One Year Can Change Your Life>
Unlike Susanna, who wrote sentimental essays, the manager mainly read books about making money.
The basic message was always something like:
Don’t waste even ten minutes.
Work hard.
Put in effort.
And make money.
“Why has Assistant Manager Susanna been so quiet lately?”
“Yes, yes?”
Susanna flinched when the manager suddenly spoke to her.
“What the hell? Why are you doing the accounting calculations by hand?
“You’re not using a calculator?”
“Ahahaha… You can’t trust calculators, you know…”
“What are you talking about?
“Assistant Manager Susanna is strange sometimes too.”
I could almost feel Susanna’s sharp glare directed at me.
But I casually ignored it.
This was the price she had to pay for making my life miserable.
Once his conversation with Susanna ended, the manager turned his attention to me.
“Assistant Manager Audret, why have you been leaving work so early lately?”
“Ah, have I?”
“Yeah. Let’s work overtime today!
“We used to work overtime together all the time, remember?”
He was lying so he could show the Guild Master that he was such a hardworking employee that he even worked overtime.
I stared at him for a moment before speaking.
“That’s right, Manager.
“You used to work overtime with me quite often.”
“Huh? Right…?”
“But I’m actually worried about you.
“You must be exhausted.
“Wouldn’t it be better if you reduced your overtime from now on?”
“Haha. I’m still young.
“Without passion, what’s the point of working?
“I’m not tired at all…”
“You work part-time washing carriages during the day, and then you work at an inn in the evening after leaving work.
“You’re working way too much.
“I’m worried you’re going to collapse one of these days.”
“Huh? Wh-what?”
His pupils began to shake.
“What are you talking about?
“Me? Working part-time?”
“Huh?
“Didn’t you tell me yourself last time?
“You said that the reason you disappear for three hours every day during work, pretending to smoke, is because you’re actually going to wash carriages as a part-time job.”
“……!”
“And the reason you always rush out of the guild at exactly six o’clock is because you’re trying to make it to your inn job on time!”
The Guild Master was a classic old-fashioned boss.
He hated employees who didn’t have a sense of “ownership” toward the company and who focused on other things instead of their work.
Working at an inn in the evening was something he might have gotten angry about but eventually overlooked.
But secretly leaving work for three hours every day during working hours while pretending to smoke and working at a carriage-washing shop?
That was a clear violation of his employment contract.
It was more than enough reason to fire him.
To investigate this, I had secretly followed the manager around for several days.
I had always wondered why he smoked for three hours at a time.
It turned out he had been secretly doing a part-time job during those hours.
“A part-time job?
“What are you talking about?”
The Guild Master, realizing that the conversation was becoming serious, joined in.
“Is what Assistant Manager Audret saying true?”
“N-no, absolutely not!
“Assistant Manager Audret is framing me!”
“Oh, come on.
“Why would I frame you?
“I’m just worried about your health.”
I continued talking casually.
“You know the carriage-washing shop right in front of the guild?
“Go there and check whether the manager works there.
“Actually, should I bring one of their employees here?
“Guild Master, please take care of the manager’s health too!”
“H-how could you…”
Anger appeared in the Guild Master’s eyes.
“You pretended to be loyal to our guild, but you’re not just working two jobs.
“You’re working three?!”
“N-no, Guild Master!”
“You’d better confess before I personally go to that carriage-washing shop!”
At that point, the manager had no choice but to admit the truth.
“G-Guild Master!
“I only did it because my financial situation is difficult!
“I have a sick mother, a wife, and children at home!”
“What are you talking about?
“You’re not even married, and didn’t you say your mother died years ago?”
“Ah, anyway, my circumstances were really difficult!”
“Don’t give me that nonsense!
“I trusted you, and this is how you betray me?”
The Guild Master’s typical old-fashioned anger poured out.
“This guild is your home!
“You should be grateful that we feed you!
“When you open your eyes in the morning, you should be thinking about the guild.
“When you go to sleep at night, you should be thinking about the guild!
“How dare you waste your mental energy on other jobs?!”
I looked at Susanna as if asking how anyone could possibly think about the guild even while sleeping.
She looked back at me as if she had no idea either.
“Young people these days care more about their own bodies than the company!
“In my day, I was loyal to the company even if I had to go hungry!
“When I was your age, I worked 36 hours a day and never even looked at anything other than my main job!
“You brat!
“What does this guild mean to you?!”
I looked at Susanna again as if asking how anyone could work 36 hours a day.
She gave me the same look as before, clearly having no idea.
“This is a betrayal of our guild!
“Betrayal!”
Finally, his anger reached its climax.
He began throwing the documents in his hands at the manager.
“You’re fired!”
“G-Guild Master!
“Do I at least qualify for unemployment benefits…?”
“Our guild has fewer than five employees, so that doesn’t apply!”
“Urgh!”
In the end, the manager was kicked out by the furious Guild Master and made a rather pathetic exit.
The Guild Master continued fuming for a while.
Then he said he was too angry to work and left early.
“Wow… You’re really amazing…
“The way you make people disappear…”
Susanna said something to me that I couldn’t tell whether she was flattering me or insulting me.
“Be careful, Susanna.
“I don’t know when I’ll decide to make you disappear too.”
“Of course I will…
“Today, I did a four-digit multiplication problem without using a calculator.”
“Very good.”
Susanna seemed to mutter something insulting under her breath in a quiet voice.
But I’d let that much slide.
In the quiet office, I thought about what to do next.
Now that the manager had been fired, the Guild Master would probably want to hire another employee.
If possible, I’d like that person to be someone useful who would willingly follow my lead.
Someone who would be on my side.
